Mirror Mirror!: Part Three

I was staring at the sobbing figure in the mirror, I had to wait until it got its composure, I needed to make sure all of the details were clear. Hopefully this wouldn’t take too long; fortunately it took about four minutes before she was in perfect speaking condition again.

“I have one last question for you, maybe two.” I told her. “They won’t be much, just one or two things, possibly, that I need to know.”

“Why should I tell you anything else? You cruel, heartless, evil neopet, you do not deserve to learn anything else from me.” Its failed attempt to deter me was kind of amusing.

I loosened my grip again and it began to slide through my hand, but I caught it at the last second. My screaming reflection gasped for breath.

“Alright, you witch! I’ll tell you the answers to whatever you want.” My reflection was really ticked off now.

“First of all, who made you?” I was excited; I would finally know the name of the evil wizard who had sent this cursed thing into my life.

“His name was Rendalisimo; he was a blue Peophin, and a skilled wizard.” She said easily, “He had wanted to get revenge on his parents for not buying him a special book he had wanted, but his parents were old and had moved away to a distant island where they could enjoy the fresh sea air. But instead of going after them, he gave me to the princess. I was designed to make children ignore their parents. I hadn’t wanted to at first, but then I was so good at it I began to enjoy it more and more.”

“Did he ever change?” I asked.

“Yes, shortly after giving me to the princess, he changed. He had tried to get me back, but I convinced Lemile to hide and then run away so we could spend time together alone. But the foolish child just happened to drop me over the edge of this very ledge, and so I was buried in the mud a little ways down for about two hundred years.”

“My last question is this, can you be destroyed?” I knew that this thing needed to be gone, once and for all.

“Well,” she looked hesitant, “yes, I suppose I can.”

“How?”

“You said you would only ask two more questions, you’ve already asked three.” She held up three fingers.

“I have?”

“Yes, number one was who made me, if Rendalisimo ever changed, and last but not least if I could be destroyed.” My reflection stated this matter-of-factly.

“Oh, so I suppose I did.” I laughed weakly; I knew I had blown it for good. It wasn’t going to tell me anything else, no matter what I did.

But I was still going to try; this cursed mirror was going to have to give in. Well, maybe it wouldn’t have to.

“Tell me, or else.” I just held the mirror up with two fingers, but I held it loosely.

“Go ahead and drop me; some other neopet will find me and it’ll be your fault.”

I glared at it. The blasted thing was right, no matter how much I didn’t want to admit it.

“Why did I have to find you?” I asked.

“Fate, I guess.”

“Then hopefully fate will be on my side this time, not yours.”

I dropped the mirror and watched it fall into the river below with a small splash. I would never know what would happen to it, but I didn’t really care.

With the mirror gone, I felt as if a huge burden had been lifted of my shoulders. Now all I needed to do was go back to my house and apologize to my parents, and then explain to them about the mirror.

*****

I saw my house in the distance. There was only one light on; it shone brightly against the dark sky behind it. I hadn’t realized it was so late and I started to walk faster; my parents were probably worried sick about me.

I didn’t even get to put my foot on the front step when the door flew open and my distressed mother flew out, grabbing me in her arms and pulling me close.

“We were so worried about you!” she whispered in my ear, “Your father was going to go look for you if you didn’t turn up in about another hour!”

She tried to laugh but burst into tears. My father immediately appeared in the doorway to see what was amiss.

I pulled back from my mom and began fiddling with my hair; I didn’t look up to meet my father’s eyes. I still felt bad about biting him on the wrist when I had first found the mirror. When I found the courage to look him in the eyes, I found he was smiling.

My father scooped me up in his arms and hugged me my mother joined in and kissed me on the forehead.

“I forgive you,” was all my father said.

“We’re proud of you, honey; you’ve done a good thing in telling us you're sorry.” My mother brushed a loose strand of hair from my face.

“Mom and Dad, the mirror was cursed.”

My parents looked at me funny, and then they looked at each other and smiled. I knew they didn’t believe me.

“Do you two think you can come to the library with me tomorrow?”

“Well, I don’t see why not,” my father said, looking at my mother.

I knew they would have to believe me once they saw what I was going to show them tomorrow.

*****

“Mr. Bernie?”

The ancient Lenny turned and faced me, a smile breaking across his face.

“Well, if it isn’t the little lassie that came in asking for the old journal the other day. Do ye wish to look at it again?”

I nodded and he pulled it out from the tall shelf behind him, he handed it to me and winked.

My parents and I sat down at one of the tables; I pushed the journal towards my parents.

“That will explain everything, well, almost everything.”

My parents opened up the journal and began to read. Their eyes widened as they saw the drawing on the front page of the journal. I sat smiling as their eyes grew wider and wider until they seemed like they would take over both of their faces. When they finished, they shut the book with a thump and looked at me in surprise.

“I wouldn’t have believed it if it weren’t for the fact you did some of the same things that this princess did,” my mother said as she shook her head in bewilderment.

“I agree.” My father looked back at the book. “But what else is there to know? Since you told us it would tell almost everything.”

“Well, the neopet who made it was a wizard named Rendalisimo.” I recounted the story that the mirror had told me.

They nodded slowly, and then my mother stood up; she gestured for us to get up too.

“Well,” she said, “since the mirror is gone, let’s forget about it and go home.”

We left the library, leaving all that had happened in that long while behind us. We were a happy, smiling family once more.

*****

One Year Later

A blue Peophin sat on a muddy river bank; he was trying to find something that was very important. He and his family, since his great-great-great grandfather Rendalisimo, had been trying to find it. His eyes scanned the mud, searching, always searching, but he never seemed able to find what he was looking for.

This day was his lucky day, though; his eyes fell upon a mirror. He walked over to it and looked into the not so reflective surface. There was a dark shadow was swirling about in it.

This was it, the thing his family had been looking for, the thing that had managed to stay hidden from them. He was surprised that this pretty mirror could have caused so much trouble.

He reached down and plucked it from the mud. The shadow seemed to darken, and then a hideous wailing filled the air; it grew louder and louder. The Peophin dropped it, covering his ears; still the horrible sound grew louder. He watched as the shadow in the mirror seemed to dissolve, and the glass of the mirror began to shake and crack.

The Peophin backed away, the shadow vanished and the mirror exploded. Glass and gold flew everywhere, the Peophin ducked as he shielded his head from the shards of used-to-be mirror.

The Peophin stood up shakily. It had been easy enough to destroy it, but he hadn’t done it.

Who had?

He looked around. He was alone. The Peophin supposed that would be a question left unanswered for the rest of his life.

*****

Fate had apparently been on Molly Farebanks's side; she had warned you for nothing. I suppose you are wondering several things.

As for the one who destroyed the mirror, that’s an interesting story for another day.